The present invention relates to a method of sanitizing a polluted area and, more particularly, to a method of at least partially sealing the polluted area by providing at least one sealing barrier layer in the liquid permeable ground layers under and/or next to the polluted area, over the polluted area and/or in the polluted area itself to prevent leakage of pollutants into the environment and thus sanitize the polluted area.
Different methods of this type are known, which encapsulate the refuse dump or the like, so that pollutants can not migrate from the polluted area. According to German Published Patent Application 3,419,163, a refuse or garbage dump can be sanitized by providing a vertical sealing wall, which has drainage means. It is possible to control the pollution level by pumping away the trickling water. It is however disadvantageous that a danger of polluting the ground water still exists when this method is used, because surface water can still enter the dumped material and reach the ground water from the bottom of the dumped material.
German Published Patent Application 3,604,940 describes a method of sanitizing a dump in which a concave hollow space made by mining methods under and beside the dumped material is filled with sealing material. However the high cost of this method and lack of a sufficient covering barrier layer to keep out surface water are both substantial disadvantages.
German Published Patent Application 3,415,883 suggests a method in which shafts are sunk next to the refuse dump and a cell-like and/or parallel array of injection ducts under the bottom of the refuse dump are provided. This method of sanitizing a refuse or garbage dump is very complicated from an engineering standpoint and expensive. Because of that the making of sealing barrier layers by this method can effectively take place only in special cases.